Humanitarian Governance

1. Humanitarian Governance Laura Hammond Dept of Development Studies, SOAS SOAS/Mo Ibrahim Foundation Seminar on Governance and Development May 2013 Accra, Ghana

2. Humanitarian Governance Defined • Rules, structures and mechanisms for promoting accountable and effective humanitarian practice, including prevention, mitigation, management, response, and recovery from disasters of all types. • Actors can include states (at all levels) but also regional bodies, LNGOs, INGOs, etc.

3. Humanitarian Responses to... • Rapid onset disasters – floods, storms, earthquakes, communicable disease epidemics • Slow onset disaster – drought, climate change effects, chronic disease at epidemic levels • Complex emergencies – conflict, state failure - Usually these three are interrelated

4. How would you describeHumanitarian Actors in your Country? Q. • what is their reputation? • what kind of relationship do they have with the state? • with local people?

5. How is the State seen by humanitarian actors in your Country? Q. • Do they engage directly –including channelling funds through government? • Does the state facilitate or constrain humanitarian action?

6. State-Donor relations through history • 1970s-80s: donors gave through direct payment to the state, even balance of payments support (Harvey 2009). INGOs peripheral • 1990s – shift to support through NGOs, Red Cross. Assumed states were too weak or corrupt to handle aid themselves • 2000s – resurgence in interest in direct assistance – recognition of increasing capacity • Emphasis on national ownership

7. Role of the State • State has the first ‘Responsibility to Protect’ – Sovereignty has obligations and rights • State ideally should be able to respond to risks/disasters on its own • Where it requires assistance, it should be able to coordinate, approve intervention plans, see and approve budgets, and evaluate (or see evaluations) of external activities • International norms & legal instruments can be used to back up national responsibility

8. Role of Humanitarian/Development Organisations • Provide protection & live-saving assistance if state cannot or will not • Under IHL, states must, if they are unable or unwilling to assist civilians, grant access to an organisation ‘like the ICRC’. • Doesn’t mean that all NGOs have a right to access

9. How to work? • Independence, Neutrality, Impartiality are Key • HOs must choose between capacity building, service substitution, advocacy (& sometimes denunciation) • Where states do not uphold social contract, IOs often see it as their role to speak out • But adherence to principles may result in distance between HOs and govt

10. Politics of Humanitarian Governance • Strong response can provide a political boost • Conditionality regularly used to guide political policy • Humanitarian assistance used for state-building, hearts & minds • Humanitarian principles often used only with regard to humanitarian action & not development

11. Accountability • Without regulation/registration, international organisations are not likely to self regulate • Some accountability mechanisms: Humanitarian Accountability Partnership, Red Cross Code of Conduct, Sphere Guidelines, etc. • HOs often resist coordination efforts • But regulation of humanitarian governance can also be used as a way of maintaining control over citizens, restricting LNGO activities, curtailing human rights

12. Conclusions • Humanitarian (& Development) Governance part of wider governance debates • Humanitarian space can be a ‘black hole’ of accountability • Effective system comes from leadership as well as insistence on accountability & service from below • Contradiction: provide support to government but preserve independence to be able to protect those who need it